Conflicted Emotions
by ChiChiChico
Summary: Harry moved to New York to escape nosy reporters. Head of his own computer company, he thinks he can finally escape his past life. Tony discovers a computer genius and wants him on his tech team. Harry would gladly join him if only Fury wasn't blackmailing him to join the Avengers. Harry's conflicted on following his heart, or following his mind. Slash, HP/TS. M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Here's my new story! It's a Harry Potter crossover with the Avengers. I'm not sure how long it will end up being, but hopefully more than a few chapters!

Disclaimer: I don't any of these characters.

Warnings: Slash, Harry/Tony, and others that I haven't come up with yet. Probably going to end up being rated M, but not yet.

Posted: 8/8/14

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Chapter 1

Manhattan, New York was nice in the summer. It wasn't super hot, like some places were, but at the same time, it's winter was as cold as home's was. Harry decided he liked living in the northern state, and he wanted to stay for as long as he could. With his mind made up, the Master of Death set up a business to pay his rent in a crappy looking apartment building that no one else but very shady characters lived in. In reality, he didn't need a job, and he certainly didn't need to live in said dump, but Harry didn't like to spend the money his father, and grandfather saved up over their lives. He would keep it full for as long as he could, hopefully to pass on to a child in the future.

Being immortal, though, put a bit of a downer on things like that. He didn't want to get into a relationship with someone who would grow old while he just sat there, staying twenty-one his whole life. He certainly didn't want to see his children die as he stayed immortal. It would break his heart, and he wouldn't even be able to die to see them all again because Death decided he—Death _is_ a guy, Harry found out when he first tried to kill himself and Death showed himself to Harry—liked the teen too much to let him destroy the Deathly Hallows, which was what Harry had planned on doing.

So Harry decided to travel. Britain was too interested in his life right now; they all wanted to know everything he did, every day of his life. He hadn't liked the prying when he was eleven, and he sure didn't like it now, so he moved. He went out of the country, getting a crappy apartment and starting his own business.

The business was actually something he didn't think he would be good at. It was a computer software engineering business. He built software for computers to use. They were actually quite genius, despite how most of the computer technology out right now was as amazing as ever. He wished he could get together with Bill Gates and compare notes, but he would do this if only he wouldn't become famous and noticeable because of it. And if he somehow popped up a hundred years from now with the same exact look as he was now, well, people might get suspicious.

Of course, the one person that Harry _really_ wanted to meet was Tony Stark. Tony Stark was a computer _genius_! He was like a computer god or something. Reading about that man's discoveries was a gift by itself, but _using_ that man's discoveries was like a dream come true. Harry always felt like a complete nerd whenever he thought about Tony Stark or computers, but he couldn't help himself. Being a wizard, most thought he would become an auror or a healer or something that involved magic, but honestly, ever since Dudley had thrown away the laptop he'd somehow broken just by turning on, he'd been addicted.

He'd accidentally fixed the computer with his magic (apparently, the 'no electricity' rule with magic was just another way to keep muggleborns from bringing new stuff to the wizarding world). Anyways, after he'd fixed it, he'd started playing around with it. At first, he was confused, and had absolutely no clue what anything did. After a while, though, things started clicking, started making sense. Harry, plus his magic, started doing things with that old computer that no one had ever done before, and he was proud of himself.

After the war was finished, the press went crazy, so Harry moved to New York to find peace, and to start his life of computers. He was surprised when a few months after he'd moved there, aliens attacked Manhattan. He'd secretly helped the avengers defeat them with his magic (well, he really did it to help Tony Stark, because he couldn't leave his hero out there alone, could he?), hoping that no one saw him. However, Harry hadn't realized that there were cameras around the city, set up by Stark to keep an eye out for crime. It was because of these cameras that a black man in a black trench coat and an eye patch was in his home, uninvited.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" Harry growled angrily, his fingers twitching for his wand. The man turned to look at him, looking unimpressed. Harry would like to see how unimpressed the man was when Harry killed him with a twitch of his wand.

"Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D and creator of the Avengers Initiative. I saw you fighting the other day on the cameras around the city. You took down those damn aliens like they were bugs under your feet. I want to invite you to join the Avengers Initiative." Harry was sure that Fury hadn't breathed once since he started speaking.

"Fighting? The aliens? Me?" Harry said innocently, relaxing his body slightly. "Nope, I'm pretty sure I ran screaming like a little girl, just like everyone else." _Ha. Like that could happen. I've never been able to run away from people in danger. Stupid hero-complex._ Fury looked as convinced with his lie as his inner self was.

"Right. I've got videos of you fighting, and that says so much more than your mouth." Frowning slightly, Harry sighed. This man was surprisingly a lot like Shacklebolt. Both were cryptic, black, and both wanted him to fight for them.

"No. I don't want to fight for your stupid team of superheroes. It's not my thing. Now if you could please leave, I would really appreciate it. If you don't, then I'll make you. You've got those videos, right? You know I could do it without even breaking a sweat." Fury sneered, making Harry wonder if he was a hybrid child of Lucius Malfoy and Shacklebolt. Creepy.

"I figured you would refuse, so I decided that if I couldn't convince you, I would use you're weaknesses against you. You see, I've looked into you, Harry Potter. I may not have any information on your teenage years," he looked so frustrated that Harry couldn't help the smirk on his face, "but I do know that you have a strange infatuation with a certain Tony Stark, who happens to be part of the Avengers Initiative. If you join, you can see him every single day if you want. I have no idea why you would want to, but it's possible. Does that change your mind, Potter?" Harry felt like smashing the man's head into the wall, but refrained. That was blackmail, through and through. Somehow Nick Fury had figured out about his celebrity crush, and was using it against him. Spending every day with _the_ Tony Stark was like a dream come true, and Fury knew that.

Hesitating, Harry almost agreed to join, but then he remembered the problems he had with joining a special task force before, and shook his head. "Sorry, but even Tony Stark couldn't get me to make that mistake twice. Nope. Now get out of my house." He started towards the man, when his bell rang. Fury smirked, and gestured for Harry to answer the door. Feeling like he'd been set up, Harry carefully made it to the door, keeping his eyes on Fury the whole time. Opening the door, he cast a quickly glance at who it was before doing a double take. There, on his dingy doorstep, stood Tony Stark himself. Harry felt like dying.

Just as he was about to give a fangirl squeal, he realized what was happening. Angrily, he turned to Fury. "You! You disgusting monster! Get out of my house right now, you evil, blackmailing beast!" He knew he was being dramatic, but he couldn't help himself. Here stood Tony Stark right in front of him, but he couldn't even enjoy it because he knew that if he did, Fury would take complete advantage of that and force him into the Avengers.

"Uh, should I come back another time?" Tony Stark asked awkwardly, and Harry turned to him with a tight smile.

"Probably not, seeing as Fury here is using you as an excuse to get me to join the Avengers. I like your work a lot, Tony Stark, but not enough to join your group of super heroes. So if that's why you're here, then please leave." Tony Stark looked skeptical, and then stepped inside, pushing past him almost rudely.

"Good thing that's not why I'm here, then, isn't it." He stepped up to Fury, who looked angry, and said, "Get out right now. I saw him first, and I want him. Now go away so I can snatch him up and take him home." Fury looked angry at first, then realized something probably sneaky and slightly evil, and nodded, leaving Harry's apartment at last. Breathing a sigh of relief, Harry turned to Tony, who was sitting on his clean couch, his feet up on his coffee table casually.

"If you're not here to convince me to be part of the Avengers, what are you doing here?" Harry asked curiously. Tony looked so much hotter in life than he did on pictures, the immortal wizard noted almost absently.

"You build computer software, right?" Tony asked, looking at him like he was an idiot. Feeling slightly lost, and a little insulted at Tony's tone, he nodded. "Well, I've seen your work, and used it myself. I tried to play with it, take it apart and figure out how it worked, you know how it is." Harry smirked slightly, knowing that the spell he'd put on all of his software to keep it from being messed with had worked perfectly. "To my surprise, however, I couldn't get it to open up to me, so I got angry, and tried to destroy it," this time, Harry winced at the thought of his beautiful work being destroyed, "but that didn't work either. So I decided to come to the creator himself and hire him, make him work for me so that I could have that genius technology under my belt."

Wow. That was all Harry could think. Tony Stark had no filter on his mouth, nothing to stop him from saying exactly what he wanted to say. It was insulting, but also a bit impressive. The insulting part stood out a bit more, though, so Harry shook his head and sighed heavily in disappointment.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that I don't particularly want to give up my secrets, nor do I want to work for anyone. I chose my line of business so that I could do what I love without people really knowing who I am. And plus, you need to ask nicely if you want people to do anything for you." Tony smirked and stood, walking closer until he was literally an inch away from Harry. The wizard hated how far he had to crane his head back to look the computer genius slash super hero in the eye.

"Is that so? Well then, _please_," he murmured as he smoothly slid his arms around Harry's thin waist to pull him flush against the billionaire hero. Harry didn't struggle, knowing that he had no chance physically and simply stared at Tony blankly. "Join my company. I'll pay you whatever you want, you can have all the vacation days you want, and you can have your own floor to live on in the Tower."

Shaking his head, Harry gently untangled Tony's arms from around his waist, and took a step back. "First of all, no, I'm not working for you. Second of all, I don't do it for the money. And lastly, Mr. Stark, I don't believe in working for men who sexually assault me. Now, I've asked many times already, and I mean it. Get out of my house and stay out." Tony looked frustratingly unconcerned.

"I'll come back another time. Be prepared to move into my tower, Harry. I can't wait to see you again." Rolling his eyes, Harry waved sardonically at Tony, pushing the man out of his dirty apartment. The super hero turned, catching Harry's hand in his and pulled them together again.

"Just so you know, I'm looking forward to being able to do this and more every day once you move in. Don't let your stubbornness rule you." With those surprisingly serious last words, Tony let Harry go and left the slightly dazed wizard's home at last.

Closing the slightly ajar door slowly, Harry slid against it until he was sitting on the floor. As he gazed blankly at the hall in front of him, he thought over the day. He hadn't done anything too exciting at all before Fury and Tony had dropped in. Going to the grocers was the only real thing he'd done that day, and now that he thought about it, the shrunken food was still in his jacket pocket. Pulling it out, he magically sent them to his fridge, not yet willing to stand.

Inside his mind, deep inside, he knew that he'd eventually give into Tony Stark's beautiful eyes and agree to work for the genius. That thought, no matter how scary, exhilarated him. Working for Tony, working _with_ Tony, meant he had to get close to people again. Ever since he'd discovered he was immortal, he'd kept his distance from people. He didn't want to get attached, and he had always been antisocial anyways.

Feeling slightly scared and definitely overwhelmed, Harry stood and made his way to his bedroom to think. He'd had two proposals to think about now, and both deserved some deep thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the wait. I appreciate all of the favorites/follows everyone gave this story. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.

Posted: 9:39pm, 8/21/14.

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Chapter 2

Tony wasn't sure why he felt so attracted to the strange man he'd just met. Since he was a known playboy, he didn't usually get so serious about anyone, and especially not on the first meeting. It just wasn't expected of him, by anyone. Not even himself. And yet, there was just…_something_ about Harry, something that Tony had never felt before.

It was starting to get on his nerves.

Not because it was a bad feeling, but because he didn't know what it was. He wasn't used to this new feeling, and he never _did_ want to become used to it. Ever since he was a kid, he'd hated not knowing what things were, or what they meant. Especially things that pertained to him. And this definitely pertained to him because not ten minutes ago, he was about to kiss a complete stranger, and not the usual kiss that held no meaning. The kind of kiss that promised a long, happy life together, and made Tony cringe. He'd tried that kind of relationship with Pepper, but he had to end it when he found her making out with another man. She still worked for him, but he kept it business only and rarely ever spoke to her.

Even though he hid it well, her betrayal hurt him deeply, and made it harder for him to love again. He'd never really known what love was until Pepper, and then she'd ruined it by cheating on him. Although, even Tony couldn't find a single good reason for staying with himself. He was annoying, spoiled and immature. Pepper had said it all the time, and Tony knew it was true. How could anyone love someone as broken as Tony? He could barely interact with normal people without offending them, and even his friends weren't that close because of the barriers he'd put up as a kid.

"Where to, sir?" Happy, Tony's driver asked, looking back at him with concern. Happy had been worried for his boss ever since Pepper had cheated on him. Tony was becoming more withdrawn, and didn't ramble about random things the way he used to. Happy had thought that Pepper would be good for Tony, but apparently Tony wasn't good enough for her, and it had ruined the boss Happy knew.

"Hmm, how about home? Or maybe that ice-cream place near that one place, by the thing." Happy smiled at the familiar vague and unhelpful directions. Tony did this all the time before Pepper broke his heart, and Happy was, well, _happy_ to hear the old Tony back.

"You got it, sir. Right away." He pulled the limo out onto the street and made his way to Tony's favorite ice-cream shop. Tony usually only came here when he had to think about personal things that he had a hard time coming to terms with. Something had happened in the house just barely, and it left the driver with a shaken man.

Once Tony had gotten the ice-cream he always got, he felt himself calm down. It wasn't often that he was able to calm all of his speeding thoughts, but thankfully, this was one of those rare times. With his new, clear head, Tony went over every detail of his visit to Harry Potter. The young man had been stressed, obviously Nick's fault, and he'd spouted off those words as soon as he saw Tony. Something about how Nick was a monster or something. And then Tony had told him about how he used Harry's software, and there was a bit of pride in Harry's eyes at hearing that, but then Tony had seen horror when the other man heard how Tony tried to destroy the software. That wasn't uncommon, and for a second, Tony was a tiny bit ashamed of trying to destroy the software, but then he brushed it aside and continued remembering every detail about the mysterious computer programmer.

He hadn't even tried to move away when Tony had invaded his space, and yet he mentioned sexual harassment in his reasons for not working for Tony. As cute as it was that Harry thought that invading his space was sexual harassment, Tony would never do that to someone who wasn't willing, and Harry Potter had definitely been willing. The look in his eyes had said it all, as well as the dilating pupils. And they weren't dilating from fear, either.

After finishing his ice-cream, Tony went back to the Avengers tower. It had been a while since the battle with the Chitauri, and Tony had finished rebuilding the tower to make room for all of the Avengers. He'd actually made a few more floors, just in case there needed to be more room. Such as a whole floor for Harry. Of course, if Tony had his way with the handsome young man, he wouldn't have to use it for anything other than the crap lost under the empty bed. But he was not focusing on Harry right now, he was focusing on the fact that Steve Rogers was trying to use a Stark Phone and looked ready to punch it.

"What do you think you're doing, Capsicle?" Tony cried indignantly, running over to the war hero to save his precious technology. Steve looked up at the genius, a lost look on his face, something that made Tony pause in his lecture about how to treat technology. With a heavy sigh, he handed the phone back and showed Steve how to do what he was trying to figure out when Tony came in and walked away.

"Is something wrong, Tony?" Steve asked, and the billionaire rolled his eyes. He knew in his heart that Steve wasn't trying to make him feel even more tired, but sometimes, just seeing Steve's face reminded him of his dad, and that made him take out all of his childhood hurt and anger out on the soldier.

"Nothing that you need to worry about, Rogers. Just ask me if you need help with your tech again. I'll be down in the lab." Tony knew he was acting so out of character that even _he_ couldn't recognize himself, but he had a lot on his mind, and he couldn't be bothered to act like he normally did.

"Uh," Steve seemed to be in a stupor, but snapped out of it quickly enough. "A-alright, Stark, uh, I'll take you up on that?" It sounded more like a question than anything, so Tony turned to face him once again.

"Listen, Capsicle, I'm feeling generous, so don't worry 'bout it." Without another word, Tony disappeared down to his lab, not willing to let his thoughts wander to the mysterious man who fought to stay in his mind with a vengeance.

"Uh, alright then, I'll just do that," Steve managed to say eventually, despite the fact that Tony was long gone.

Harry growled in frustration! His entire day had been wasted on thoughts of Tony Stark and the fact that Harry wouldn't really mind it if Tony 'sexually harassed' him every day. But at the same time, Harry couldn't stand the idea of being the puppet of another Albus Dumbledore. And Nick Fury was definitely a controlling war leader. He led the Avengers, as well as being the director of SHIELD. This man obviously craved control and power, and he wanted anyone who could give him that. As much fun as it seemed to be under the control of this kind of person, the boy-who-lived wasn't interested in the slightest.

"But Tony Stark is _so_ hot in real life!" Harry moaned to himself, wishing it weren't true, but it _really _was. Meeting Tony Stark in person was something Harry had only dreamed of before, but now that it had happened, there was no way Harry would be able to let him go. At least not mentally. The wizard had become used to physically pushing people away, but he always thought about, always held onto a piece of them in his mind. He would just have to do the same thing with Tony, because even that hot body, sexy voice, and brilliant mind couldn't convince Harry to help out in another war. He wouldn't let himself become close to another person who fought and could die any day. It always ended in hurt and loss for him.

As he had been all day, Harry was depressed and he wasn't sure if he _wanted _to get out of his funk. Sometimes, being depressed is a lot easier than being positive. Randomly, Harry decided to classify whether he was an optimist or a pessimist and almost immediately his answer was that he was definitely a pessimist. He always had been ever since he was a child living with the abusive Dursleys.

The black Smartphone on his counter rang loudly, making him jump from his seat on the ground. With fumbling, ungraceful fingers, he answered the phone, trying to make himself sound slightly chipper as he said, "Hello?" The voice on the other side made him freeze where he stood.

"Harry, this is Tony Stark. I just thought I should call you, 'cause I'm insanely bored, and you're the only interesting thing in this town. Not even the musicians on the side of the road can interest me today. Not even a little bit. Do you know how rare that is for me? Usually those guys take all of my attention, which is why I usually have a car, but right now, I'm bored. Did I mention that I'm bored?"

Blinking slowly, Harry felt a small grin creep onto his face. Tony Stark was calling _him_, boring computer programmer Harry Potter, because he wanted someone to talk to. Heaven definitely visited earth right then, because Harry was in it!

"A few times, actually," he replied as smoothly as possible, which meant that it was horribly delayed, and he stumbled a few times. Smacking his face and groaning silently in embarrassment, Harry waited for Tony to hang up on the lame computer nerd who couldn't have a conversation right.

"Yeah? I hadn't noticed," Tony said, and he sounded like he had a smirk on his handsome face, making Harry blush brightly from the humiliation. "But that's okay, because I really am bored, and I've picked you to fix it. So tell me about yourself, Harry Potter. What do you like to do, what do you like to eat, what gender do you like to love, what restaurant do you most enjoy eating dinner at? And do you have a suit in that small closet of yours?" Harry's mind was reeling. From the latter half of the questions, it sounded as if Tony was asking him on a date!

Thinking hard about the answers, and trying to remember the order the questions were in, he spoke, saying, "I like to program things on computers, I like to eat anything that's not plain, I lean more towards men, I love most restaurants, and yes, I have a suit in my small closet. How do you know my closet is small?" He didn't really care how Tony knew, but he wanted to distract the genius superhero from his third answer, and that was the only thing he could think of.

"I had a camera put outside your bedroom window and saw how small your closet was. And then the camera broke, so I really only got enough feed to figure out your closet size, and where your bed and desk was. You need more things in your room. It looked like all you owned was a bed and desk and three pairs of clothes. You should come to the Avengers tower and I'll take you shopping to fit one of the closets here. They're practically the size of your room, only bigger. You should consider it." Harry laughed slightly and walked over to his couch. He had noticed a camera a while ago that was pointed right at his room, so he'd sent a confundus charm at it, and then broke the thing. Good to know that all Tony had seen was the bare basics of his room. Anymore and the statute of secrecy would've been wasted.

"Yeah, maybe. But I don't fancy being the puppet of Nick Fury, and since you're one of the puppets of Nick Fury, I don't really want to be around you, in case you convince me with your pretty face to join the Avengers. Not something I plan on doing, by the way." Tony gave a sharp laugh, sounding annoyed. Harry knew better than to hope it wasn't at him, and resigned himself to Tony hanging up on him.

"As hot as you are when you're fighting—I saw you on the cameras—I bet you're much hotter when you're making brilliant software for my company. So don't worry about joining the Avengers. We already have the Hulk, we don't really need anyone else but me, so don't worry about me being the pressure-putter-onner. I just want you near my bedroom, so that we can have some fun times, and then when I go off to fight, you go off to program software that will make you and me, and everyone in Stark Industries incredibly rich and famous. Well, even _more_ rich and famous. So what do you think? Will you come to the tower for me?" Harry groaned audibly in frustration. He wanted everything to be as Tony said, but he knew that was impossible. As soon as Tony saw him fight, or save someone, he's going to want Harry's help for some mission, and then if Harry helps once, Tony will want help all the time, and then Harry really will be an Avenger!

"You're making it really hard for me to stay away, Mr. Stark," Harry growled, losing all the fight in him, but not really wanting to give in so easily. He was Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, the man-who-conquered! He should be able to win against a muggle with a cute face!

"That's the point, Mr. Potter," Tony mocked, and Harry growled slightly. "I'm here to convince you to come to my tower so that not only will your software be mine, but you will be there to alleviate any boredness that comes my way. And hopefully, some of that 'sexual harassment' will turn into 'sexual enjoyment.'" That made Harry smirk at the thought, but he decided to remain firm. He didn't want to be used, so he wouldn't let Tony use him. Simple, right?

"I'm sorry, but I won't let that happen any time soon. Fury wants me to fight for him, and I'm really tired of fighting, so how about we pass along on our daily lives and forget all about each other? Sound good? Great. Now I have to go, so if you want to work for me, or have any questions about my software, please e-mail me, and I'll make sure to get back to you on that. Goodbye, Mr. Stark." And with that, Harry hung up his phone, ignoring the sounds of protest coming from the speaker. Dropping the phone to the ground, Harry soon followed after it, letting his forehead rest against his knees. He wished that he could be a normal person, who had normal love interests, and didn't have crazy, controlling leaders out for his fighting abilities, or billionaire genius' trying to get in his pants!

Four minutes and thirty-three seconds later (he'd been counting to get his mind off of Tony), the doorbell rang, and he forced himself to get up. Groaning from mental exhaustion, he opened the door to see a frowning genius billionaire. Said billionaire had his phone in his hands, messing with something on the touch screen. Wishing he had the strength to slam the door in Tony's face, Harry resigned himself to the fact that he really didn't want Tony to leave him alone at all. In fact, Harry wanted Tony to keep popping up in his life as much as possible, until Harry no longer feared being with the Avenger.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the long wait. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own either of them.

Chapter 3

"What are you doing here?" he asked curiously, before remembering how Tony had sounded as if he was asking Harry out on a date earlier on the phone. Tony seemed to have been planning a date and hadn't even asked him properly! Rude! But then, of course, Harry _had_ hung up on him after saying some pretty rude things. So they were even, somewhat.

"I'm here to take you out to dinner at a place that doesn't cook 'plain' food. And I need you to get out the suit. I'll even help you put it on," Tony leered, wiggling his eyebrows. Harry snorted before he could help it, and waved the muggle in. He pretended to not notice the way he felt Tony's eyes on his backside, and walked toward his kitchen again.

"And if I don't really want to go out for dinner, or wear a suit?" Harry asked with a straight face. Tony rolled his eyes and stepped closer to the wizard, towering over the short man.

"If this is you trying to tear us apart again, like you did on the phone, I'm not listening to a word you say, and if I have to force you into a suit, then fine, I'm all for it." This time, it was Harry who rolled his eyes.

"This isn't me trying to tear us apart again. This is me, offering to make you dinner. And then I'll tear us apart, because you'll be too lost in heaven from my cooking to realize what I've done. So get in there and wait for me to bring in food." Harry knew he was being bipolar, and making a huge mistake concerning Nick Fury and his plans, but for once, he just wanted to do what his heart wanted, not what his brain wanted. And even if Harry fought for Fury, he would be fighting with Tony, which would make it somewhat better. So really, being with Tony wasn't completely a bad thing.

Surprise shone on Tony's face, but he allowed himself to be sat at the table in the kitchen. Harry usually (always) ate by himself, so the table was small, with only enough room for four people, and not four comfortable people, either. But Tony didn't mention anything about it, despite the fact that he probably ate off much better than Harry's old table. That alone endeared Harry to him even more. Rich kids could be such snobs, but it obviously wasn't such a big deal with Tony.

"So why do you live here?" Tony asked as Harry got started on cooking dinner. The green-eyed man looked up in surprise. He wasn't sure what Tony was asking.

"Uh, why wouldn't I live here?" he asked slowly, not sure what was running through the genius' mind. Maybe Tony was a little bit of a snob after all.

"This apartment is small and there's only a couple rooms in this whole place. You mentioned before that you didn't make software for the money aspect, so I assumed it was because you already had some. Lots of it, from some of the objects laying about." Harry looked around his room and saw how the muggle might come to that conclusion.

"Yeah, I inherited a lot of money, so I don't really need to work, or live here, but it's a nice place, and I like having something to do all day. It beats sitting around and doing nothing forever." Harry gave a sharp laugh as he cut some vegetables. He'd tried that route once in England, and he never wanted to go back to it. There was too much free time to think about all of the dead people he'd known and loved, and the thought of him sitting there like a rich snob made him sick, so he'd gotten off his butt and done something, just to keep his mind off the dead.

"Me too, actually," Tony murmured thoughtfully, looking in the distance. He had a thoughtful look on his face. "I inherited this business from my dad when he died a while ago. Not that I regret his death. I feel like it was a great way for him to go." Harry frowned. How could your own father have any 'great way' to die? Maybe it was a military death, or something of the like. Harry wanted to smack himself for not paying closer attention to Tony's family information when he'd looked up everything about the man in front of him. Obviously, he hadn't looked hard enough.

Tony answered his unspoken question easily, saying, "He died in a car crash. I think it was the happiest day of my life," Tony admitted, looking nonchalant. Harry wanted to be angry at him, to yell that not everybody had a father at all, and those who did should be thankful for them, but then he thought about his own past. Would he really regret it if his relatives died in a car crash? No, he probably wouldn't rejoice it, but he wouldn't miss them, or even grieve for them. They weren't his family, and they didn't mean much to him. Maybe Tony's dad was like Harry's uncle.

"I don't know if I can understand perfectly how you feel," Harry said slowly, thinking over his words carefully. "But I do know that if my relatives died today, I wouldn't much care. Maybe a little, but not enough to mourn for them. They raised me, and I wish they hadn't," was all Harry decided to share as he got back to cooking.

Harry felt Tony's surprised eyes staring at the back of his head, probably not used to someone who actually related to him about his dad instead of judging him harshly. Tony spoke after a moment, "Pepper used to tell me that no matter what my father did to me, I should just forgive him for everything because he died, and that I should respect him. I don't know why she would say that, because people don't change even after dying, but she did, and I always wished she had just nodded and said, 'I understand. I don't blame you,' but she never said anything like that, she just judged me. After a while, I stopped bringing him up in our conversations because I didn't like how she looked at me after them." Tony didn't look sad, but curious as he watched Harry bring food over to the table.

"You, on the other hand," Tony continued, his voice seeming to lighten, "instantly took what I said and didn't judge me. You took it like you understood me." He took a small breath before turning silly. "Where have you been all my life? I need you to be like this all the time!" Seeing that Tony wanted to move from a serious subject to a more joking one, Harry obliged, and began talking about some of the funnier things in his life. There weren't many, but they were funny enough to make Tony laugh.

As they ate the delicious food, Harry's rational side argued against keeping Tony so close. Fighting for a misguided leader was not on Harry's bucket list (or if it were, it had been fulfilled years ago), but falling in love with a wonderful man who loved him back was definitely at the top of the list. Tony could be that person, and if Harry didn't at least give him a chance, then Harry might lose someone who could understand him and love him because of his own fear and paranoia! What should he do?

At the end of dinner, Harry looked over at Tony, who was grinning happily. Obviously the man was pleased with the night, and was probably hoping for a bit more than a door slammed in his face. Harry almost let out that he'd let Tony stay longer, but Fury's face stopped all those thoughts from going anywhere. Finally, Harry sighed and stood up, turning to the door.

"I'm sorry, Tony, but I don't think I could handle another commander, or any more fighting than I already have done. I really think we should stop seeing each other for good, because I don't think I can refuse you for much longer." These words made Tony, who had previously been frowning and moving closer slowly, smirk and pull Harry into his muscled arms. Harry closed his eyes and refused to let himself take a whiff of the heavenly smell that emanated manly protection from the older man.

"What's so bad about being with me?" Tony asked, leaning down to try and catch Harry's lips, but Harry turned away each time. "I think I'm a wonderful catch." Harry let out a weak laugh, wishing that he could just say 'screw you, Fury!' and let Tony sweep him away, but knew that the closer he was to Fury, the more control the man had over him. And Harry didn't deal well with controlling war leaders.

"The only bad thing about being with you, Tony," Harry started, looking up into those delicious brown eyes for a moment, before looking down at the chest his hands were pressed against. "The only problem is that being with you will give Fury more access to me, and I can't handle people like him well. I know he'll guilt trip me or trick me into doing something I don't want to do, because he'll find my weaknesses and blackmail me into doing whatever he wants me to do. If he ended up using you, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from either killing him, or working for him. Since I've decided to not kill, it'll most likely be the second option." Harry was all worked up now, panicking slightly at all of the different scenarios going through his mind. He barely noticed the touched look on Tony's face.

Tony cupped Harry's face, forcing the shorter man to look up and meet his eyes. Tony had a soft look in his eyes as he said, "Don't worry 'bout me, Harry. I'll be fine. Just trust me to be able to protect you from the bad guys, which means Fury as of right now. I won't let him get to you, ever, and I won't make you fight a day in your life." A smirk crossed his face. "Well, I'm pretty sure we'll fight _every_ day of our life together, because I have some bad habits of causing mischief and trouble wherever I go, no matter how much I like you." Harry smiled and nodded.

"I can see that happening." Harry took a moment to consider everything he was feeling right now. He really liked Tony, even if he didn't love him yet, and he wanted to be with the genius, but it was hard to forget his past and his paranoia and let himself choose happiness over safety. He glanced up at Tony, noticing the almost nervous look on the man's face, and realized that Tony liked him too, and wanted him to try this as much as inner-Harry wanted to. Someone like that was the thing he wanted from Tony, and so he nodded.

"Alright, here's how it'll go. We're going on a trial run. We are going to date for a while, and I'll live here while you live over in your castle, and if I like you enough after some time, I'll consider taking this relationship serious. All that I ask for is patience and understanding that I have some secrets that I can't tell you unless we are in a very, _very _serious relationship. So don't feel betrayed if I ever tell you and you feel like I should've told you earlier." His words made Tony smile slightly. Obviously he was amused at Harry's secretive nature, but Harry wondered if he'd be as amused when Harry told him.

"I can handle that. I have a few secrets myself that I probably won't tell you in a long time, or possibly ever. So, now that we've established that we're dating, can I kiss you?" Harry wanted to refuse just because of the lecherous grin on his boyfriend(?), but he wanted to kiss Tony Stark just as much as the next bloke, so he pushed up on his tip-toes and pressed his lips firmly to the other man's.

Their kiss was awesome.

Tony obviously had as much experience as the press said when it came to kissing, because Harry was in heaven with that kiss.

When they finally pulled away, Harry looked up and grinned evilly. "If I didn't know better, I'd say I should be jealous because of your skill, but then I'd just be stupid, because I really want that skill to be used again." Tony laughed loudly, surprised at Harry's response.

"If you want, Har-Bear, I'll kiss you every day for the rest of our lives." That kind of response made Harry grin even harder.

"You might want to change that to at least five times a day for the rest of our lives. A morning kiss, brunch time kiss, lunch kiss, dinner kiss and supper kiss. And then add a few more to the day randomly, and you'll have me wrapped around your little finger forever." They both laughed, and then a knock sounded on the door.

Looking at it in confusion, Harry turned to Tony with a questioning look. The genius billionaire simply shrugged and gestured for him to answer it. Harry grimaced and walked to answer it. Hopefully it was just a salesman who wanted to sell some random crap and would move on quickly.

Nope.

Instead, it was a tall woman in tight clothing, and a serious look on her face. She was a redhead, but nothing like Ginny, which made him relax slightly. He remembered the disaster with Ginny Weasley well, sometimes a bit _too_ well.

"Harry Potter, correct?" she asked in a business-like tone. Harry nodded wordlessly and looked back at Tony who had a look of amusement and irritation on his face. Obviously, the billionaire recognized this woman, and probably knew why she was there.

"Good. I'm supposed to bring you to Director Fury about becoming a part of SHIELD. Please come with me." She turned half-way as if she was leaving, but her body language spoke that she was waiting for a fight. A fight she would definitely get.

"Huh, that's funny," Harry said with barely concealed fury. "I don't remember _ever_ agreeing to join SHIELD. And since this is America, I actually have the free will to do whatever I please, so I will kindly say to Fury—not you personally—fuck off and leave me alone. I refuse to fight for him and he will never be able to force me to. I fight when I wish to fight, and not for any other reason. So please, go and deliver that message for me, would you?" With those firm words, he shut the door and locked it, silently casting a locking spell as well. A thought creeped into his mind, wondering if Fury had planted some bugs in his apartment, and Harry instantly sent out his magic to search for it. Not surprisingly, his hunch was correct and he found three cameras, one for each main room excluding the bathroom, and ten bugs hidden around the rooms. With a nearly nonexistent flick of his fingers, all of the spying devices were dead and sending out messages to whoever was watching the cameras to say "Fuck off" on the screens. It was very satisfactory.

Tony interrupted Harry's thoughts, an eyebrow raised and obviously impressed. His next words proved that Harry had read his face correctly. "I'm impressed, love. You kicked Natasha out like it was an easy feat. But trust me, love, she's not going to just leave. She'll sneak in somehow and kidnap you when you least expect it." Obviously, Tony knew more about this woman than Harry thought.

Shrugging, Harry silently sent a magical barrier around his home to keep out intruders, and sauntered over to Tony. Reaching up to caress Tony's cheek, he smirked and said, "Don't worry about me, Tony, I'm very experienced in keeping unwanted visitors out. Now where were we?" He didn't wait for a reply before standing on his tippy toes to press his lips against the older man's. Tony smirked against his lips and responded, allowing his worry to fade as he focused on Harry.


End file.
